Time (시간): Episode 5 Recap

Sit back and relax as this episode is the most intense one yet. You’ll be on the edge of your seat (literally) as you watch Ji-hyun deal with the aftermath of losing loved ones. Meanwhile, Min-seok continues to dig himself into a deeper hole that is far too late to escape out of. However, it soon won’t only be him who’ll be stuck in that hole. Others too will soon join him.

Time (시간): Episode 5 Recap

Min-seok anxiously waits for the arrival of Tae-sung as he prepares for their meeting. When Tae-sung does arrive, he’s not the only one in his car as Ji-hyun’s mom has also accompanied him. Min-seok and Mom are shocked upon seeing each other, but before the two can even discuss with each other, Ji-eun’s former supervisor crashes into their car with a white truck. Min-seok attempts to stop the supervisor from repeatedly smashing their car, but it’s too late. The car explodes into flames right in front of their eyes. Min-seok realizes the dangerous situation and kills the supervisor with a brick. Now that Tae-sung’s dead, the case will be closed and the investigation will end.

Ji-hyun is informed of the incident and her mother’s death by the police. Since there were no CCTV’s at the site of the incident, the police will have to reinvestigate the case.

The funeral service for Mom proceeds and her ashes are laid to rest next to Ji-eun’s. Ji-hyun has become so numb to it all she doesn’t even have the strength or tears to cry anymore. When asked what he can do to support or help Ji-hyun, she pleads for Soo-ho to leave her alone in the meantime. The same goes with good friend Young-hee. Ji-hyun just wants some time alone.

Ji-hyun breaks down into tears when she gets back home. The loneliness is too much for her. She misses her mom and sister dearly.

Soo-ho moves forward with investigating the incident himself. Was it really a simple incident like police officers are labeling it or did someone purposely instigate it so that the copy of the camera footage wouldn’t make its way to him? While in a meeting, Soo-ho takes a glance at Min-seok and notices the scars and cuts on his fingers. He confronts Min-seok about the scars, but Min-seok claims he simply just fell down. Soo-ho also asks Min-seok about Ji-hyun, but Min-seok turns it back on Soo-ho. Min-seok reminds Soo-ho to not marry Chae-Ah if he has no intentions of caring for her. He doesn’t deserve someone like her.

It’s been a few days since Soo-ho’s last visited Ji-hyun so he drops by her apartment to see her. When she doesn’t answer the door, Soo-ho panics and worries that something’s happened to her. He sneaks into her next door neighbor’s place and manages to break into Ji-hyun’s unit through the balcony. Upon entering the empty apartment, Soo-ho grows petrified. As he slowly makes his way to the bathroom, he’s reminded of the time when he discovered his mom dead in the bathroom when he was younger. Afraid that he’ll see the same thing again, he tears up. Fortunately, Ji-hyun is safe and okay. She had just finished taking a shower which is why she didn’t answer the door. She screams at Soo-ho to leave and breaks down into tears when he exits.

When Soo-ho makes his way outside, he suddenly remembers why he was there to visit Ji-hyun in the first place. He wanted to check up on her to see if she’s been feeding herself. To ensure that Ji-hyun is okay, Soo-ho pays Young-hee to take care of Ji-hyun. He hands her his credit card to persuade her. Lol.

Soo-chul, Min-seok, and Dae-chul all form a team to take Soo-ho down. They’ll start by tracking down his credit card purchases to see what he’s up to. Soo-chul also asks the two guys about the recent incident. Was it really a car accident? Maybe Min-seok knows something about what happened. But the lawyer keeps his mouth zipped.

The guilt gets to Min-seok and he breaks down into tears while washing his face in the restroom. He was involved in both Ji-eun and Mom’s death and even killed the supervisor. Chae-Ah herself is starting to be wary of Min-seok when she receives details from another colleague about the type of person that Min-seok is known to be. At that moment, she’s interrupted by a visit from Min-seok himself. He asks her for another million dollars, but refuses to explain the reason why. Chae-Ah is willing to give him the money, but has a question for him regarding money itself. Min-seok was once a prosecutor who had dirt on W Group, but he eventually accepted a paycheck from them to eliminate the evidence and ended up working for them soon after. Chae-Ah hopes he didn’t do it for the money, but Min-seok responds that he did. Money might not mean much for someone like Chae-Ah, but it does for Min-seok.

Young-hee fulfills her duties of taking care of Ji-hyun. She takes a picture of Ji-hyun cooking and sends it to Soo-ho as an update. He responds furiously though and scolds Young-hee for making Ji-hyun cook instead of cooking for her instead. Hahaha. Young-hee has her own reasons and quickly hangs up on Soo-ho after Ji-hyun becomes suspicious of the phone call. This is too funny.

Ji-hyun and Young-hee thank the two men for fixing the broken window by feeding them with the food they cooked. However, Ji-hyun is still feeling down and doesn’t have much of an appetite. Her face expression in another photo that Young-hee sends Soo-ho proves it all. To cheer her up, Young-hee suggests that they go out and have some fun.

The two friends watch a movie and go shopping at the department store they work at. Coincidentally (but not really), Soo-ho passes by and witnesses the two girls spending time together. He accidentally comments how relieving it was that Ji-hyun went to watch a movie which confuses her. How did he know that? Young-hee ends up exposing Soo-ho and how he hired her to take care of Ji-hyun. Ji-hyun thanks both Soo-ho and Young-hee for worrying about her, but she still asks for some time alone. She needs some time to herself so that she can organize her thoughts and be in peace.

Ji-hyun waits at a train station to have some alone time. While the many train passengers go about their daily lives and enter and exit the train, Ji-hyun stands frozen in between all of the chaos. Soo-ho too is spending some time alone. However, he’s interrupted by Min-seok who pays him a quick visit. He’s aware that someone else is spending Soo-ho’s credit card so he’s going to report it. There’s many people watching Soo-ho’s every move right now. Min-seok also warns Soo-ho to stop pretending to care about Ji-hyun. In the end, it’ll only hurt her more as he’ll eventually abandon her and leave her all alone. Plus, he’s only maintaining contact with her for his own sake.

Chae-Ah gives Min-seok the million dollars like he had asked her for. However, she wants to know what he needs it for. Although Min-seok had originally refused to tell her why, he finally lets her in on the deal.

Soo-ho visits Ji-hyun’s place, but it seems like she’s not home. He calls Young-hee to double check, but Young-hee is out spending some time by herself. Since Ji-hyun expressed some time alone, Young-hee respected her decision and hasn’t been taking care of Ji-hyun since. Soo-ho then orders Bok-gyu to take note of Ji-hyun’s credit card statements to locate her whereabouts.

Min-seok takes Chae-Ah with him as he visits the person he’s giving the million dollars to. Upon handing the money to a man, Min-seok suggests that he and his family move to another country. If he doesn’t, police will eventually find out that he was the one who hid the CCTV recording of the incident involving Tae-sung and Mom and will eventually get punished for doing so. Chae-Ah drops to her knees upon finding out the reason why Min-seok needed the million dollars. She’s unable to process the information (YES GIRL, HE’S EVIL. GET AWAY FROM HIM).

Soo-ho waits outside of Ji-hyun’s place, but there’s no sight of her anywhere. He finally receives a tip from Bok-gyu who reveals to him the most recent location she used her credit card at.

The place is none other than the W Hotel where her sister had drowned. Ji-hyun stands in front of the same exact pool where her sister had floated while dead. She reminisces memories of her sister and also recalls the time when Soo-ho had busted into her apartment. Unlike what she had claimed, she didn’t open the door because she was busy taking a shower. She was trying to drown herself in the bathtub, but stopped thanks to Soo-ho.

Ji-hyun then calls Soo-ho to bid farewell. She won’t be able to pay him back the $10,000 nor does she have the will to live. She tried to cheer herself up by shopping and watching movies, but there’s nothing that can help her heal. Soo-ho runs as fast as he can to save her since constructions prevents him from driving to the W Hotel. While talking to Ji-hyun on the phone, he gets run over by a car but even that doesn’t stop him (SERIOUSLY?! COULDN’T HE HAVE JUST GOTTEN TO THE HOTEL SAFELY? Was this really necessary? ASKFJD).

When he arrives at the hotel, he runs to the pool expecting Ji-hyun to be there. But she’s not so he runs up to the rooftop of the hotel. Sure enough, he finds her on the rooftop ready to leap off into the thin air. He arrives just in time to stop her and tries to distract her so she won’t think of jumping. Soo-ho is so worried about Ji-hyun he doesn’t even notice the blood running down his face from the car accident (tsk tsk it shouldn’t have even happened in the first place! It was so pointless!).

He joins Ji-hyun and climbs over the railing as well. He stands not too far from her and opens up to her about the suicidal thoughts he’s had as well. Since his mom’s death, Soo-ho’s thought of dying just like Ji-hyun is thinking. He thought living wasn’t worth it anymore and too wanted to end his suffering. However, he didn’t and he’s still alive. Life should be about living happily; no one lives to be sad. He then encourages Ji-hyun to make up her mind. If she jumps, he’ll jump with her as well and they’ll die together. He threatens to fall off the ledge which causes Ji-hyun to run to him and throw the both of them back over the ledge. The two are safe though still hurt.

The next day, Ji-hyun makes her final decision. She’s going to keep living. She’s going to live her life to the fullest. She’ll find out what really happened to her sister and mom and live for them. She also asks Young-hee to move in with her which Young-hee happily accepts.

Soo-ho shares his message of living a happy life with his restaurant staff. He finds it important that they understand what the meaning to life is. He also meets with Ji-hyun to discuss about the night before. She thanks him for saving her and gifts him with some dessert and ointment as a sign of gratitude. She then proceeds to asking him to stop helping her. She doesn’t want his pity nor does she want him to keep risking his life just to help her. Ji-hyun thanks him for his help and walks away.

While Soo-ho tastes some of the dessert that Ji-hyun had baked for him, Ji-hyun reflects on her life as she walks away,

At the moment I decided to live, I suddenly thought, what was it that saved me when I thought I was left utterly alone in this world?

What made me realize the world was still a place worth living in was that.. I’m not alone.

Ji-hyun slowly settles back into her life by moving in to a new place with Young-hee. She also continues to investigate on the death behind her mom and sister by passing out flyers to bring about awareness. Things are starting to get better for Ji-hyun and she’s finally feeling alive again despite all the recent incidents.

Ji-hyun and Young-hee take a break from all of the chaos of moving in together. They step outside their apartment to stare at how huge and tall their apartment complex is. Their neighbor also steps outside at the same time and stands near the two friends.

This neighbor is none other than Soo-ho. Upon seeing Ji-hyun, he greets her and introduces himself as her neighbor. He’ll be living next to her from now on.

My Thoughts:

Oh, look at what it is! It’s a ‘Let’s Eat’ meets ‘Time’ cross-over! Haha. But seriously, who knew one could pack so much content into one episode? So many things happened in this episode and I felt like I could never just sit back and relax because something terrible was going to happen. Granted, the feeling wasn’t nice, but I’m glad that there was progress made in this episode. The progress wasn’t necessarily in terms of the investigation behind mom and Ji-eun’s death, but rather with Ji-hyun and Soo-ho who both finally realize what their life means to them. In the midst of trying to save the other, they themselves came to the realization how they’re going to live and what their meaning to life is. I think that’s why even though the investigation behind Mom and Ji-eun’s death just got harder to solve, we received progress elsewhere and that balanced things out.

This episode was seriously Soo-ho and Ji-hyun’s episode. I know that’s a silly thing to say because they’re our leads, but this episode was dedicated to them. This episode was representative of how far they’ve individually grown but also developed together. They’ve reached a milestone in their relationship with each other in this episode and there were so many beautiful aspects that stood out. One of the biggest ones would be Soo-ho’s vulnerability in front of Ji-hyun and him opening up to her the moment she was ready to die. By sharing his story of his attempted suicide, he made it clear to her that she wasn’t alone and that he too at one point wanted to end his sufferings. All she needed was to know that she wasn’t alone and that there was someone out there who felt the same way that she did. That person happened to be Soo-ho and as much as he saved her from jumping, I think she also rescued him from taking forth that leap as well.

I do have to say that watching Soo-ho be so willing to jump off that ledge was so terrifying and depressing because he’s aware that he’ll die eventually anyways. He’s already accepted it and so dying at that moment wouldn’t make much of a difference than if he was to wait a little longer and live a few more months. Whether it was in that moment when he was with Ji-hyun on the rooftop ready to jump down or later when he would lose the fight against cancer, death won’t really matter to Soo-ho. It just makes me so sad thinking of how death isn’t that big of a deal to him except knowing that it is because he’s afraid of dying as much as he is of living.

Being reminded of his mom’s suicide when Soo-ho was looking out for Ji-hyun was so haunting. In the scene where he slowly approached the bathroom afraid that he would witness Ji-hyun in the same way he saw his mom when he was younger was terrifying. I think Soo-ho’s care for Ji-hyun extends to both caring for her as a person but also not wanting to lose another loved one. He and Ji-hyun weren’t that affiliated with each other, but he knew he didn’t want to lose her which is why he did what he could to save her – even if that meant getting run over by a random car and hurting himself in the process. It’s because he too can relate to her and understands perfectly how she feels losing her mom that he wants to protect her. He was able to live through it and see what else life had to offer him after his mom’s death. Soo-ho wants Ji-hyun to be able to do the same and live a happy life because that’s she deserves it.

I really have to commend Soo-ho for the way he cared for Ji-hyun in this episode. He was nosy and he definitely could have died while looking out for her, but he knew how dangerous and risky of a situation she was in. Since he also went through a similar situation and also attempted suicide when he was younger, he was aware of what she was going through and how she felt. He doesn’t wish for that pain to be inflicted on Ji-hyun herself or anyone else. Even if Soo-ho reacts harshly or indifferently, he still cares for Ji-hyun. It’s just that he’s not good at expressing his emotions and puts up this front to protect himself. This is why I was so satisfied and relieved when he opened up to Ji-hyun about losing his mom just because we finally saw another side of him other than the one that the drama had been showing us all along. Soo-ho might seem like this cruel, brutal, and spoiled man who tortures others which is unacceptable, but I think he’s slowly finding reasons to change now with Ji-hyun in his life. Soo-ho was that light in Ji-hyun’s dark world and he lit her life up. However, I think the same thing can be said about him because he too received another reason to live when just a few weeks ago, he was crying over dying. Now he’s accepted it and even encourages others to live. That’s a pretty brave and amazing thing of Soo-ho to do despite knowing that he himself doesn’t have all that much to live left. I really appreciated the way that he cared for her in this episode and took whatever means he could to ensure that she was going to live. Maybe things will be worth it after all.

Min-seok just continues to be the most frustrating and irritating character in this drama. He keeps digging himself into this hole further and further all for the sake of money. I think I wouldn’t despise his character as much if we had just maybe received a little bit more context on why money is so important to him. I know he has to take care of his parents, but I wanna see him struggle. I don’t want to see him thinking about his struggles, I want to witness him visit his parents and show us why he needs that money so bad. He doesn’t like his job and he hates what he does, but he takes it because he’s desperate for money. If shown that hopelessness and need for money, I think I could at least understand why he does what he does out of pity.

However, all we see is just him killing people and making deals and forming alliances with Soo-ho’s enemies and you’re just left wondering, why? That’s it? His character as a villain is already interesting and complicated as it is, but it could be so much more complex. Utilize the potential to make him even more multi-dimensional. He plays such a big role in everything and sometimes I feel like he’s the main character in this drama because of how involved he is with everything and how many connections he has to all the plots, but he feels bland as the antagonist. I want the drama to do more with Min-seok instead of having him meet with people and threaten Soo-ho for the millionth time to stay away from Ji-hyun (which I don’t understand why he does anyways because he doesn’t even care about her? Lol). He could be so much more interesting and conflicting as a character, but I think the drama has yet to grasp onto that potential. It’s definitely there, but it’s just kind of hanging on a thread and the drama has yet to snatch that thread.

I’m hoping that since Chae-Ah now has an idea of how evil and scheming Min-seok is, she’ll learn to distance herself away from him. He’s not a good man and even if she already has some sort of ties with him, I hope she knows well enough to cut those ties. She witnessed Min-seok save the man (and himself) who hid the video camera footage of Mom’s incident. He’s doing this all for himself which means that when the time comes, he’ll also probably throw Chae-Ah away to save himself. Min-seok’s an opportunist as Chae-Ah was told and he’ll give others up to protect himself.

This episode was just amazing and beautiful. Every single minute just had you curled up and waiting to see what happens. One of the biggest things I appreciated was witnessing Ji-hyun mourn and grieve. I know this is an odd thing to say, but like Ji-hyun stated, she needed time to herself to just process everything and accept that she’ll probably be alone for the rest of her life. It was good that Young-hee and Soo-ho were looking out for her and trying to get her back into the routine of things, but it was forced and happened way too soon. Ji-hyun didn’t even have enough time to process Ji-eun’s death before being confronted with the passing of her mother. It’ll take a while for her to move forward and to live her life without them both. The last thing she needs is to pretend like it all never happened and as if everything is okay when really she isn’t. She’s struggling and she’s hurting and we have to respect that. I’m glad this episode explored this side of mourning that sometimes is masked and hidden.

While I did not appreciate the little car accident that Soo-ho had while he was running over to save Ji-hyun (it really wasn’t necessary but the drama just had to insert that in asdkfjd), the minute-by-minute play leading up to that moment was well done. It was intense and suspenseful, but it was also moving and touching the way he tried to keep her on the phone and then distract her from her suicidal thoughts by sharing with her his story. The directing once again brings out the most in each scene and keeps you engaged. I really have to give it to the director who’s able to focus more on each cast member’s strengths and learn to work around their flaws. My only issue with this drama is the amount of struggles and hardships that each of our characters are going through. I felt like at one point in this episode, it was a competition between Soo-ho and Ji-hyun as to who was struggling worst than the other. You have a guy who found his mother dead and then years later is suffering from cancer and doesn’t have much time to live. Meanwhile, Ji-hyun loses both her sister and then her mother consecutively and also breaks up with her boyfriend of six years who’s behind the deaths of her family members. I feel sad for the both of them, but they’re also each going through so much and I sometimes wonder if it’s really all that necessary. Does all this much really need to happen to them?

Soo-ho saved Ji-hyun this time, but I’m afraid that there will be no way for her to save him when it comes down to his final moments. I’m even more afraid that by that time arrives, the two would have already developed such a deep connection and bond with each other that losing Soo-ho would be too much for Ji-hyun. She really only has Young-hee and Soo-ho left in her life and she’s finally found the will to live again after being surrounded by them. What happens when it’s time for Soo-ho to leave? Will he miraculously live and get to spend more time with Ji-hyun? Or will he bid farewell with her forever with no rescue attempt possible? Whatever happens in the end, I hope that Soo-ho has lived the happy life he so desperately wishes for those around him to live. Maybe he too deserves that after all the hardships he’s gone through.